# Andrea Yates sentence overturned
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 6, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395 "2005-01-06T15:16:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/1 "2005-01-06T15:16:12Z")
Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her four children, has had her life sentence overturned by the Texas First Court of Appeals. Among other reasons, the opinion said that a state’s psychiatric witness testified that Andrea got the idea to drown her children from an episode of “Law and Order” that turned out to have never existed.
> **[Andrea Yates' conviction thrown out](https://www.chron.com/news/article/Andrea-Yates-conviction-thrown-out-1942934.php)**
>
> The 1st Texas Court of Appeals today threw out the conviction of Clear Lake mom Andrea...
Didn’t know if this was more suited for here, MPSIMS, or Great Debates, so apologies if it must be moved.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/2 "2005-01-06T15:23:41Z")
I think The Pit would be the best place if this thread turns into a discussion of Park Dietz and his behavior in the trial…
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### Author:  [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/3 "2005-01-06T15:24:25Z")
I read the article, but I’m not sure I understand. What does that mean for Yates?
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### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/4 "2005-01-06T15:24:51Z")
I hope the new jury finds her guilty, too. I wonder why she was only charged with three counts instead of five.
[sub]Please, please, _please_ let this get moved to the Pit.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/5 "2005-01-06T15:25:40Z")
I was going to pit him. All because he had to tell an ego-driven lie…his entire credibilty is now suspect.
Thanks for nothing, you twit. I hope the state licensing board takes a close look at you.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/6 "2005-01-06T15:28:48Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#):
>
> I read the article, but I’m not sure I understand. What does that mean for Yates?
Probably a new trial.
Is it up to the prosecution to investigate claims of TV show consulting by expert witnesses? How much flak is the prosecutor going to catch for this screw up?
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### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/7 "2005-01-06T15:32:19Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#):
>
> I read the article, but I’m not sure I understand. What does that mean for Yates?
From the article in the OP’s link:
> [@](#):
>
> **In ordering a new trial** , the appellate court said the trial judge erred in not granting a mistrial once it was learned that testimony of Dr. Park Dietz was false.
It seems to she’s going to have a new trial.
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/8 "2005-01-06T15:36:49Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#):
>
> I hope the new jury finds her guilty, too. I wonder why she was only charged with three counts instead of five.
She was charged with five but only tried for three. This was probably done so that if she was acquitted on the three, she could be re-tried on the other two.
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/9 "2005-01-06T15:42:27Z")
Isn’t it good to know the states expert witnesses can be counted on to lie under oath on behalf of the prosecution? Liberty and justice for all! Let Freedom Ring!!
\
[sub]Oh, sorry. Not **lied** He _erred_. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Just a simple misunderstanding, really. No harm, no foul, not at all. [/sub]
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/10 "2005-01-06T15:48:57Z")
A couple of others:
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6794098/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6794098/)
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52848-2005Jan6.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52848-2005Jan6.html)
I believe that the court order for a new trial can still be appealed by the prosecution to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, so Andrea might not get her new trial just yet. Even if she does, like **Zev** said, the state can always charge the other two if it doesn’t like the outcome.
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/11 "2005-01-06T15:50:46Z")
Well, at least there is no risk that she will do it again, at least not for another six months to seven years…
Sorry, wrong forum… (Honestly, I’d like to see this thread stay in IMHO so we can actually discuss the story instead of just flaming it.)
I have conflicted opinions about the concept of an insanity defense. There is a chance that Yates killed her kids in a psychotic episode, or during a near-psychotic depressive episode. I think the very act, of a mother killing every one of her children, lends credence to the idea that she was entirely incapable of thinking rationally, much less acting rationally. But no jury is ever going to look inside a defendant’s head and see what they’re thinking or what was passing for thought when the crime was committed.
I’m not sure whether sanity should be a condition for guilt anyway. I’d be a lot happier if a jury was able to find someone guilty (with prejudice? Is that the right term?) by reason of insanity. I’m not sure how much difference it would make in the life of the accused since they would have to spend roughly the same amount of time in a hospital and would have to prove that they are ready to rejoin the world, whether in front of a medical board or a parole board. It would be public recognition though that the person committed the act and had to accept responsibility. After all, Ms. Yates will have to own up to her actions anyway before being accepted back into society
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/12 "2005-01-06T15:53:16Z")
Is there any reason of the case itself (not reason as in “they just get to do that under the law”) that they could charge for three but not the other two? Did she kill two first, take a long break, then go after the other three, and they figured the break should have been enough time to let her snap out of it? Because the only other reason I see is that the prosecutors decided to set it up that way in case they didn’t like the result of the first trial, which is possibly understandable in the case of multiple children being killed but still fairly troubling.
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### Author:  [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/13 "2005-01-06T16:22:35Z")
Andrea Yates belongs in a mental hospital, not in prison.
I would never excuse what she did, but she is/was obviously mentally ill. She had severe postpartum depression, which her husband completely ignored. He’s a prick. She tried to commit suicide a few times, went catatonic for awhile, was in a psyciatric hospital… and he just kept on getting her pregnant.
Read up on it if you want. It’s a sad case all around.
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### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/14 "2005-01-06T16:26:08Z")
I have to think that the woman was/is seriously mentally ill, but who among us knows what that’s like unless we’ve been there? There were things about the murders that were so sickening I can’t stand to mention them. Her deeds were beyond my comprehension.
From what I remember of the case, she and her husband seemed to think that they knew better than everybody about everything. They were religious nuts who couldn’t even get along with other religious nuts. They disregarded medical advice. The husband was arrogant past the point of common sense, and Andrea followed his lead.
If they wanted leniency, they should have both gotten sterilized. I’m pretty sure that if she gets out they will immediately have more children. Our justice system doesn’t do forced sterilizations, and to the best of my knowledge, AY has not volunteered to be sterilized. However blameless she might be due to mental illness, I just can’t see giving her the opportunity to ever have more children.
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### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/15 "2005-01-06T16:42:50Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#):
>
> … and he just kept on getting her pregnant.
He was raping her?
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### Author:  [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/16 "2005-01-06T16:44:02Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#):
>
> Is there any reason of the case itself (not reason as in “they just get to do that under the law”) that they could charge for three but not the other two? Did she kill two first, take a long break, then go after the other three, and they figured the break should have been enough time to let her snap out of it? Because the only other reason I see is that the prosecutors decided to set it up that way in case they didn’t like the result of the first trial, which is possibly understandable in the case of multiple children being killed but still fairly troubling.
I belive that they settled on this split because a minimum of 2 murders was needed for a capital case. That’s the only reason I was able to discern from what I have read.
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### Author:  [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/17 "2005-01-06T16:48:29Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#):
>
> He was raping her?
From what I’ve read, it was his big thing to have a bunch of kids. Like I said, read up on it if you really want to know. The dude was a manipulative jerk, and made her into a baby factory, despite her obvious mental illness and inability to deal with motherhood and pregnancy.
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### Author:  [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/18 "2005-01-06T16:59:12Z")
[http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm](http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm)
[http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious\_murders/women/andrea\_yates/](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/)
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### Author:  [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/19 "2005-01-06T17:19:03Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#):
>
> Isn’t it good to know the states expert witnesses can be counted on to lie under oath on behalf of the prosecution? Liberty and justice for all! Let Freedom Ring!!
Well, this IS Texas we’re talking about.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395/20 "2005-01-06T18:22:16Z")
I’m pretty impressed this thread made it through 18 replies before the appearance of a bigot.
For those who would like to Pit Dietz, Andrea or whomever, there’s [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295520).
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andrea-yates-sentence-overturned/283395.md?page=2)